at my school it seems 15% got selected, similar to the county average. And they all seemed to be the ones i thought would be selected. Are they gifted? Most, no. But they are good readers, good students, curious, and get along well with others.

Mine is a school in central county with lots of ESOL and some poverty. The kids going to AAP will miss out on some diversity, but will now get to learn at an accelerated pace. Too bad they have to take a longer bus ride each day and could not support an entire level IV at base school.

Anonymous wrote:You would be surprised at the number of places where coaching is provided for the NNAT and CoGAT tests. My son came home one day and said many of his friends during the summer break after 1st grade and the month of Sept in 2nd grade went to these classes everyday. I do not know where the people at these so called coaching centers get their material from but in Northern Virginia that is a real big and thriving business. I know of parents who make it their goal in life to get the kids to the AAP program and then to TJ.

While I don't agree with these testing centers, I also don't agree with the FCPS approach either. DS took the Nagleri this year as a first grader in the first month of school. First, he was coming from a half day kindergraten program - e.g not used to a full day - and had an adjustment period. Second, he had never taken a test in his life, never mind a timed test. I think we should start smaller with like a spelling test or something before we throw a test like this at them. My DS teacher said he was looking at someone's paper during a practice test and she had to talk with him. Ok...But again, he has never been exposed to testing before. He was used to kindergarten where the kids work at a collective table were always looking at each others work. So, yes I talked with my son about test taking strategies for the Nagleari (skip the question if it is too hard and go back in the end), etc.

Anonymous wrote:PP: The idea of the GBRS is that the teachers and schools should know what to look for. How the child approaches the problem is as important as the answer at this age. Creativity is hard to measure, but critical for the AAP.

Personally, I would not have a problem with the GBRS if teachers were good identifiers of giftedness. Did you know that teachers only identify giftedness about 20% of the time? Parents recognize it about 90% of the time. Perhaps the parents should be completing the GBRS and the county taking more stock in that assessment?

My DD scored a 146 on the NNAT and we have had her WISC-IV performed. She is considered intellectually gifted per the psychologist. However, her teachers (AART included) initially tried to tell me that she was not gifted before testing was performed. School finally agreed she was gfted after testing was conducted, but not performing. Turns out my DD was so turned off by FCPS this past year that she was completely shutting down. She was BORED in general ed. despite teacher telling me DD was not bored. If her teachers were to complete the GBRS, I am confident she would not have scored high. Mid year we moved my DD to private gifted school. We have a completely different child and it was the best decision that we ever made - even an FCPS teacher saw an amazing difference. My DD needed an accelerated program, but had we left her to FCPS she might have missed out on the AAP program because of the GBRS aspect.

You would be surprised at the number of places where coaching is provided for the NNAT and CoGAT tests. My son came home one day and said many of his friends during the summer break after 1st grade and the month of Sept in 2nd grade went to these classes everyday. I do not know where the people at these so called coaching centers get their material from but in Northern Virginia that is a real big and thriving business. I know of parents who make it their goal in life to get the kids to the AAP program and then to TJ.

PP: The only way to do a completely objective process would be to base it 100% on test scores. However, that may not be legal because of students with disabilities, etc. For example, my DD has anxiety issues and sometimes gets flustered on tests. That happened on both the NNAT and the CogAT. It is documented. However, she had a 15 GBRS.

Other people have hearing issues, or ADD, etc.

The problem is a group administered test in the first and second grade probably will have a huge variance -- the same kid taking the same type test could have huge difference in scores.

The idea of the GBRS is that the teachers and schools should know what to look for. How the child approaches the problem is as important as the answer at this age. Creativity is hard to measure, but critical for the AAP.

I am curious to know only those kids who are deserving and they dont get selected because of GBRS. Is it true, schools retain the kids for their own rating?

Even if it is not black and white, shouldn't people voice out to have a better selection procedure where school administration do not have a chance to bring their subjective opinion about a child for their own personal gains?

I have an older kid in the AAP program. I understand why precisely they renamed the program from GT to AAP. The program is definitely advanced in academics. Giftedness may not support your child in succeeding in Academics.

The term "gifted" means the child can be good in one aspect but AAP pertains to only Academic. It doesn't matter if a child can do a 1000 piece puzzle or do complex structure in LEGO or even play an advanced level of Chess.

Can the child learn things faster when it comes to Arithmetic/Vocabulary/Comprehension? If not, AAP is not going to be really enriching for that child. May be the kid will be an Einstein/Edison and can think outside the box. But will not be recognized in academics.

I think it's very hard to gauge giftedness based on casual or classroom contact in the classroom.

In our case, I know of several kids who didn't attend orientation at all for various reasons.

Well, this sort of thing made me all the more anxious when it was my dc they were evaluating. She's in, but there are more than a few kids that I was shocked to see at orientation.
The proof is in the pudding....either the children who shocked us will show us that they do indeed belong, or they will show us differently.

Also, just because a kid was at orientation, doesn't mean that his/her parents will put them in the program.

You really have to understand what the committe is looking for. Potential giftedness as reflected in exceptional test scores. My child has scores off the charts but average classroom performance. Putting her in GT is necessary for her to rise to her potential. She performs at the level of her peers.

I am the OP. Some of the kids who didn't get selected actually got pool letters and I know they are pretty smart to flair in the center program. Like you said GBRS should have played a big role.

This was not the case with us at all. I, too, volunteer a lot and every kid I expected to get in did. We are lucky because they are all DC closest friends. One teacher told me that there are a few surprises each year; kids you think will get in don't and kids who you think won't- do. It really comes down to the test. It has an arbitrary cut-off so like this year it was 130. If your DC's peer group all got 128's they would not make it in the pool unless the parent refers. However, if this is your 1st child you have no idea about all of this as they don't spell it out and most people have no idea what those scores that come in the mail in Jan are for (unless it comes with the "in pool letter") So, I guess what I am saying is that a lot of equally qualified kids get left out because they probably missed ONE question to not get the 130 and that is really a shame because it means absolutely nothing (those two points) but they have to have a cut-off somewhere I guess. It is a crazy process but the only one they have; I really do not think they hold back intentionally.

two things to consider: 1) you do not know if people were unable to attend the orientation, ans 2) you do not know the test scores for the children that made it.

I have heard that some schools intentionally lower GBRS scores to retain students, but only through comments on the board. I assume if there was actual proof, it would be documented somewhere other than here.

I have heard the same thing, its very shocking and i am very nervous as I have a rising second grader.

Hi all,

I went to the Orientation couple of days ago. I was excited to know if there were any of my DC's friends in that program.
I class volunteered at school year around. I was surprised rather shocked to see the kids who were selected and the
kids who were not selected. I am losing complete faith in the selection process.

I was more saddened by the fact that my son's peer group who were top readers and top math group were not
selected while kids who were struggling with class works were in the program. I am starting to believe if some
of the schools are retaining above average kids so their SOL ratings will be high. The way the new school teachers
talked I dont think it going to be any easy ride for the kids who are selected. I wonder what kind of information
did those parents put in the package when their progress reports are really not that attractive.

Are teachers/AART/Principal/School losing their perspective of giving the knowledge a kid deserves or is it
just one more school rating game? If there are any FCPS teachers please give an honest opinion.

People who are offended by the above statement, forgive me. I am talking about only one experience and I am not generalizing
teachers/parents/principals. If you have a similar experience please share.